It started with mine and Sandy's first Valetine's day together, 12 years ago. Just a couple kids fresh stuck in puppy love, and amongst some other various items, I bought her a Russell Stover heart shaped candy box. Yes, I can almost hear the Nirvana too. But sounds generic, right? I mean, Russell Stover is like everywhere and basically synonymous with generic Valentines Day chocolate, right?
Not so for us. All I needed was a Sharpie and 20 seconds. I (Russell but preferably Russ) scribbled my last name under the Russell, and her first name above the "Stover" (which is actually her last name) and BAM. Instant classic gift that she says is too cute for her to eat, and easily replicable evry year if for nothing more than a laugh. Boom.
And yes ,if not for the demands of patriachal society, my name could legally be Russell Stover. Dangit.
Anyways for any of you who might actually have to, like, try hard or show effort for procuring sweets for your sweetie come the 14th, it's plausible you'd see Trader Joe's Raspnberry Rose and wonder whats that's about. So glad you came here.
As is the taste! This particular bar is so remarkably raspberry flavored its nuts. Sweet and tart, even a little juicy in some ways. And not every bite but there is the occasional crisp that is suggestive of raspberry seed. There's enough that replicates actual raspberry that pureed raspberry is a logical ingredient to me....except it isn't. It's...raspberry powder? What the what? I don't even really know how one produces a powder from a normally succulent raspberry that still encompasses almost of the fruit's inherent qualities...but there it is.
Of course, for all of that flavor to shine through, it's gonna be white chocolate. Normally I'm not ehb iggest of fans of white chocolate - for me the darker the better - but it works here. There's so much nom factor, with a little cute appeals, that these raspberry rose bars are perfect for the next couple weeks of this Hallmark holiday.
Good chocolate. Good raspberry. Good everything. Good price at about $2, and good enough chance we'll buy again. Can't hype it to the max as we're not completely gobsmackedt, but it'll do for sure. It's almost as easy as having a box of chocolates with your name on it. Good deal.
Bottom line: Trader Joe's Raspberry Rose: 7.5 out of 10 Golden Spoons
I’m guessing it’s freeze dried raspberries that are powdered? I’ve done this to flavour meringue and it works well.
ReplyDeleteI think milk chocolate with the raspberry powder would actually be preferable. I assume they went with white chocolate so they could color it pink, but what do I know? I saw this in the store and was immediately turned off because I assumed there was rose flavoring. Apparently that's a thing but does not appeal to me at all. Glad to have that clarified. If it's just raspberry, that sounds much better!
ReplyDelete"And yes ,if not for the demands of patriarchal society, my name could legally be Russell Stover". Um, your name legally could be Russell Stover. There are men who take on their wives' name or create some hyphenated amalgam. You could do the same. Apparently you buy into the patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's freeze dried raspberries whizzed into a powder. I've used freeze dried strawberries whizzed into powder to make strawberry ice cream. You get the flavor, but not the liquid from the fruit which throws off the liquid ratio in ice cream and would make it more watery than creamy.
ReplyDeleteIt's freeze dried raspberries ground into a powder. It adds color & flavor without messing up the mixture. Bakers have been using this hack when making natural colored pastries.
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